


write a story with firecracker paper and disappear

by irishmizzy



Category: Wizards of Waverly Place
Genre: F/M, Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-24
Updated: 2010-07-24
Packaged: 2017-10-10 19:04:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/103122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irishmizzy/pseuds/irishmizzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a weird buzzing in Justin's brain for the rest of vacation, like even though Alex fixed everything, something's still not quite right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	write a story with firecracker paper and disappear

There's a weird buzzing in Justin's brain for the rest of vacation, like even though Alex fixed everything, something's still not quite right. He worries that Alex put them back wrong -- like, maybe everything is exactly the same, except this version of him doesn't understand calculus or can't spell appoggiatura or won't be able to do any magic better than whatever Max can do. But he checks and he can still do all those things fine and the buzzing isn't going away. It's unsettling.

"Hey," he says, pulling Alex aside after breakfast.

"Hey yourself." She wrenches her arm out of his grasp. "What?"

"Are you sure you did it right?"

She rolls her eyes. "Yes, for like the thousandth time, oh my god." She stomps away and it's weird, but the further she gets, the more buzzing there is. Maybe undoing the battle like, messed them up or something. Messed _him_ up, at least. He makes a note to read up on it when they get home, writes himself a reminder on the hotel notepad and stuffs it into his suitcase next to the sticky note reminding him to rinse off his bathing suit before packing it. Sand in the suitcase is not fun.

**

Sometimes he remembers things, like waking up in the middle of the jungle with Alex pressed against him, her hands in the middle of his back and her knees tucked into the backs of his. He can't remember if it really happened, or if it was something he dreamed up. Maybe she never pressed her forehead against the nape of his neck. He thinks she did, but when he tries to remember more everything turns fuzzy, like when a radio starts to lose signal. Static interference in his brain.

He's going to be so pissed if Alex gave up her full powers and all he got is a brain tumor.

**

"Do you -- do you ever feel like -- " he waves his hands around his head, "like, weird? Since the -- you know, jungle?" he asks her one night, perched on the edge of her hotel bed.

"No," she says, wrinkling her nose. "Now go away. You're making me miss Sorority House Slasher 9." She turns the volume on the TV up and pokes his leg with her foot until he leaves. The spot where she touched him feels like pins and needles for a long time, and that night he dreams the same dream, about sleeping in the jungle with Alex curled up behind him. That's... that's weird, right?

**

Their last night there they all go to this huge bonfire on the beach, with a bunch of other hotel guests and fireworks and people walking around serving drinks out of all all types of fruit. Max keeps taking them and Dad keeps running after him, checking to make sure they're not going to be charged extra for something served in a watermelon the size of Max's head, and Mom follows _him_ around making sure whatever's in that watermelon isn't alcoholic. Justin sits on a log watching embers get caught in the wind, dragged off into the sky.

Alex sits down next to him, too close, and he knows it's her before he even looks up because the buzzing almost goes away. He remembers the campfire in the jungle, sitting close together and trying to stay warm, trying to figure out what they were going to do. She reaches out and when he grabs her wrist to preemptively stop her from poking him it's like deja vu, the bones of her wrist shifting under his palm, the crackling of the fire and Alex's body heat against his side. There's something else too, just beyond the static that's washing out his memory, but actually remembering it is like trying to make out a TV show through the snow. Thinking about it too hard makes his head hurt almost as bad as the buzzing does.

"Okay, weirdo," she says, pulling her hand back. She leans across him to snag a pickle off the plate balanced by his side. "So," she says after a long time, "as far as family vacations go, I think this was the weirdest. Even for our family."

He laughs. "Totally." It's the biggest understatement of his life.

They don't say much after that. Justin watches the fire burn until his eyes hurt and Dad comes by to drag them upstairs.

**

The buzzing makes it hard to fall asleep. Max has been sacked out, snoring in the next bed for hours, and their flight leaves sooner than later at this point, but Justin's still awake, reciting state capitals and hoping that he'll drift off before he hits Ohio. It's working, sort of -- he's up to Tallahassee, caught in that weightless place between sleep and awake, when he hears the door push open.

"Justin?" Alex says, and he feigns sleep, thinks _Georgia -- Atlanta, Hawaii -- Honolulu_ and hopes she doesn't wake him up totally. She tiptoes across the carpet and he feels the covers slide back. "Ugh, this is so weird," she says quietly, like she's talking to herself. And then, even quieter, "I'm just gonna stay here for a little while. Until my head stops hurting. Okay?"

He doesn't move, even though now he kind of wants to ask her if he's not going crazy, if she's been hearing the buzzing, too. But then the mattress dips under her weight and it's finally quiet and he's so tired now. Talking can wait 'til morning. After a few minutes he rolls over, pretends it's just moving in his sleep, but he lets his arm fall against hers. He can hear Alex sigh happily right before her breathing evens out. He falls asleep right after that and dreams about nothing. When he wakes up, Alex is there, her hand on his arm. The buzzing's still gone.


End file.
